Public Health On Call

$168 Million in Federal Dollars for Rural Health in Maryland

2026-07-09

About this episode: Late last year, the federal government awarded the state of Maryland $168 million for projects advancing rural health. In this episode: Elizabeth Kromm of the Maryland Department of Health explains how the state plans to use this Rural Health Transformation grant to bolster the state's health workforce, connect more people to primary care, get more locally-grown, nutritious foods on Marylander's plates—and the massive effort to turn around a grant proposal like this on a very tight timeline. Guest: Elizabeth Edsall Kromm, PhD, is assistant secretary of population health and strategic initiatives at the Maryland Department of Health and adjunct assistant professor of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Host:

About this episode:

Late last year, the federal government awarded the state of Maryland $168 million for projects advancing rural health. In this episode: Elizabeth Kromm of the Maryland Department of Health explains how the state plans to use this Rural Health Transformation grant to bolster the state's health workforce, connect more people to primary care, get more locally-grown, nutritious foods on Marylander's plates—and the massive effort to turn around a grant proposal like this on a very tight timeline.

Guest:

Elizabeth Edsall Kromm, PhD, is assistant secretary of population health and strategic initiatives at the Maryland Department of Health and adjunct assistant professor of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Host:

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Show links and related content:

Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP)—Maryland Department of Health
What Rural America Can Learn from Global Health—Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs
Maryland All-Payer Model—CMS.gov
The State of Rural Health—Public Health On Call (January 2024)

Transcript information:

Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel.

Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website.